Land Use for Meat in UK is Larger Than UK

[Jamie in Chile]

The combined land area for producing meat for UK consumption is larger than the UK itself according to The National Food Strategy, an independent review for DEFRA. That doesn't even include the huge extra area required to produce dairy.

Q&A: Will England’s National Food Strategy help tackle climate change? - Carbon Brief

The aim of the National Food Strategy is to provide a roadmap for transforming the food system from its current state to one that is healthier for the population and the planet.

www.carbonbrief.org

National food strategy for England

Independent review of England’s food chain from field to fork.

www.gov.uk

 

[Jamie in Chile]

This drew immediate attention when I posted it to facebook and another group with a much larger following reposted it. I think it's worth sharing both with other vegans/vegetarians so they can share it, and also in non-vegan groups, it is something different that catches the eye and isn't well known, give it a go.

It's amazing how many people are genuinely confused and think that the area shown on the map as "built up" is supposed to be built up, and don't understand that it is a proportion of the total area randomly allocated. It may be worth explaining this because some people actually look at the map and are genuinely confused and think that the area that says "cereals" is literally corresponding to the actual geographical area where the cereals are grown! In spite of this confusion I think it's worth it, because you will get way more attention with a graphical image than if you shared some stats.

I bet this is true for other developed, densely populated countries like Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Belgium etc.

 

[Lou]

Greedy British Carnists.

 

[Graeme M]

Given there isn't enough land to feed the UK's large population that isn't surprising. What would be interesting is to convert the UK's total tonnage of meat and dairy consumed to a protein equivalent and then work out how much land would be needed to produce that from an area of cropland. In terms of the UK pastureland, how much of that is not natural landscape (in the sense that it is relatively free to grow natural pasture, trees and shrubs and other diverse vegetation).

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Greedy British Carnists.

the amount of meat per capita in the US is higher than the UK though, it's just that you have more space to waste on meat production.

The UK is not particularly high per person compared to others in Europe and the Americas

India is the lowest! Go India!

Daily meat consumption per person

Daily meat consumption is shown relative to the expected EU average of 165g per person in 2030. This projection comes from the livestock antibiotic scenarios from Van Boeckel et al. (2017).

ourworldindata.org

List of countries by meat consumption - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Lou]

the amount of meat per capita in the US is higher than the UK though, it's just that you have more space to waste on meat production.

USA is the worst!